Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Feeney. The freedom of the press is of vital importance to the proper functioning of any democracy for the enhancement of critical thinking, the exchange of ideas and to hold those in positions of privilege and power to account. What we have seen throughout the pandemic is local publications in all our areas that have gotten into trouble. They have had to temporarily lay off some very good journalists. Hopefully as we come out of the pandemic that can be reversed. More widely we have seen, and it is in Mr. Feeney's opening statement, the influence of social media both in terms of its contribution and the detraction from the quality of public debate and its ability to cause harm with immediate consequences. I will raise two issues before I let the other members in. Mr. Feeney is in a unique position to be the ombudsman that is operating in a private, unstatutory field, which is welcome, given the need to ensure the independence of the press. Does he find the need to evolve with the nature of complaints that come his way? Does the independent nature of his role enable him to make those adaptations? The second issue is, as he stated a few minutes ago, another cause for concern is the slowness with which the Government has made a commitment to a review after five years of the Defamation Act 2009. Does he think this should be reviewed sooner, but also to include social media?